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What was the most interesting, enjoyable, or memorable way you have ever seen Promotional Merchandise being used?

Submited by

Christina Matt

The most interesting and memorable way that I have seen promotional merchandise is in the bathroom. My husband owns a small business and one of our decorations left in a refurbed home is embroidered toilet paper that is left in the bathrooms. It has his company name and telephone number on it. It very cute to see the little kids when moving in automatically go for the roll of toilet paper on the back of the toilet.

Submited by

Tonya Jenkins

Let me see my most interesting, enjoyable, or memorable moment would have to be the promotion of different type of hand sanitizers. I have seen them put in the form of a pen that you would think was to write with but instead is for spraying your hands. It is very important to keep as many germs off as possible. I have also seen it in the shape of a little flashlight that is actually hand santizer that you spray. I believe these were my most interesting, enjoyable, and memorable promotional ideas I've seen.
Thank You!

Submited by

Clif Haley

When Heineken paid to be the exclusive beer sold at the three day 2008 Austin City Limits Festival, local Spoetzel Brewery was unhappy. They produced and gave away thousands of beer coozies made to look like their signature beer, Shiner Bock...which thousands of people put over their Heineken cans.

Submited by

Jacqueline Acosta

I really got taken away by my son's daycare's Promotional Merchandise last year. It was for Christmas, and they gave all the parents handbags with the child's Christmas picture on the front, with the daycare's name and information. I LOVED it!!

Submited by

Chris Gosses

A commercial photographer in Cincinnati sent small cut out models of vintage polaroid cameras when you pulled out the "photo" it was a peice from his portfolio. His company branding was on the side of the camera. It was common to see design agencies around town display his portfolio piece in their offices.

Submited by

Lashana Rowe

The most interest,enjoyable, or memorable way I have seen Promotional Merchandise being used was on a set of earpluggs and eye mask. I thought it was a great idea for the concept being used. Peace and Quiet. It was for a spa.

Submited by

Kevin Fisher

I'm the owner of a small web design studio and in early 2009 signed up an online virtual phone mail service called GotVMail. Shortly thereafter the company was rebranded as Grasshopper. Their social media campaign included mailing 5000 packages of chocolate covered grasshoppers (yes, real ones). The idea is brilliant and the package design was outstanding! Public response was totally viral as expected. I still have my package – I keep them tucked away in my desk for inspiration and to show off. And nope, never tried one! By far the most shocking, well designed and memorable promotional item I've ever received!

Submited by

Nichole Green

The most clever promotional merchandise I ever saw was a Yoga Bendy Straw, On the bendy part was the women in her yoga garb so when you bent it it looked like she was performing a yoga pose, and then farther down the straw was the name of the studio, I saw this at a womans expo and thought it was quite ingenious, definitely thinking outside of the box.

Submited by

Jeremy Hamilton

A deck of playing cards for a money mangement website and financial consulting firm at a weekly card game I used to attend. We were at our regular Friday night game and I noticed the deck of cards were a promotional item for a company. I thought to myself, "That is not very cost effective at all". As the night went on one of our friends kept losing hand after hand until he made a huge side bet to keep in the game. He lost and ended up losing about $1500.00 that night. I felt bad for him to say the least. As we were packing up to call it a night I noticed my friend writing down the number and website on the deck of cards of the financial consulgting firm. Seeing as how my friend makes a lot of money, I'm sure now I was wrong about that promotional item being cost effective.

Submited by

Jessica Barnhart

The most memorable promotions tactic I have seen is a plastic basket stuck on the back of an SUV window with suction cups. The basket contained Avon books with the name and phone number of the representative on them. It was in a busy Wal-Mart parking lot. I thought it was very clever.

Submited by

Kerry-ann Mcgaw

The most interesting way that I have seen promotional merchandise being used was by the career center at Seton Hall University. They gave away pens that had a window at the side and everytime you clicked the pen, it gave a tip on how to have a successful job search. For example, the first time you clicked, the pen would read, "Make an appointment with your career advisor. " The second time you clicked, the pen would read, "Get your resume revised." The third time you clicked, it would say, "Make an appointment for an interview lesson with your career advisor."

Submited by

Angela Doren

A few years ago I was self-employed contractor working for a loan company. I ordered 10,000 mini frisbies with my business information printed on the outside and went to the area dirt tracks to ask about sponsoring a half time fun for the kids. Four tracks accepted my offer out of 6. In 25 of the frisbies I wrote special codes H-for Hat, T-for T-shirt, F-Football, etc... the kids went onto the track and I began to throw out the frisbies. The excitement was overwhelming. The kids and parents had a wonderful day. Within the next 30 days, I recieved 7 new applications from the fun marketing I had done.

Submited by

Kim Ford

My sons grandparents have a "hot-rod shop" building custom fabricated chassis' and independent front suspensions. They were giving out small screwdrivers that clipped on your pocket like a pen. They were great and super handy.
So I decided to order some for my boyfriend's and my automotive repair business. The ones I found were double headed, with a flathead screwdriver at one end and a philips at the other. They read "Call Us Or Screw It Up Yourself". The customers loved them! We couldn't keep enough of them around.
Useful tools for promotional merchandise, just can't lose.

Submited by

Mary Brown

For her first, self-produced cd, a gospel artist selected one song from the cd’s s entire composition and sold it as a "rough cut" - no finishing touches, for $1.00. My thinking? "I'm in!" I purchased the $1.00 promo and spent the next several months waiting with baited breath for the completed project. So were thousands of others. When the completed project dropped it went gold in record time and sent the artist on an instant flight to the top of the billboards! I love the finished project but I’ll always treasure the "rough cut" and its brilliant promo.

Submited by

Lisa Whiting

Our neighborhood had a wine walk with tasting stations in a dozen shops. My yarn shop was the last stop on the tour and we paired the wines with yarns that had similar discriptions. We attached the yarns to a postcard about the shop that they got to take home with them. The white went with a fine twist merino from Urugay, the fancy red with with a super soft alpaca from Peru, and the last unfiltered, unrefined wine went with an undyed eco wool from Seattle. I had so much fun telling people about the yarns as they were sipping on their wines. The feed back was overwhelmingly positive and I now have at least a dozen new students wanting to learn to knit!

Submited by

Katie Nimcheski

New Belgium Brewery (famous for their “Fat Tire” Amber Ale) invites consumers to post a picture of their dog on the Brewery’s Facebook Page to win a contest in promotion of their seasonal “Mighty Dog” Pale Ale. I sent a picture of my dog, Frank. I didn't win the contest, but they promised to send me a New Belgium dog collar made from recycled bicycle tires. This is definitely the most creative marketing strategy I’ve seen lately. How did they know that dog-Lovers and Microbrew Connoisseurs go hand-in-hand? I can't wait for the collar to arrive...Frank will love it!

Submited by

Russell Morton

During one of the hottest summers I can recall here in the Bay Area, I was handed a Chinese style fan that when opened was actually an advertisement for an air conditioning repair company. Awesome.

Submited by

Jazmin Gonzalez-jimenez

I think the most memorable was when last year I got as a gift from my school principal a little organitational red bag with the school name and a message from the principal to celebrate teacher's appreciation week. It was memorable because I think it was very thoughtful of her. You can use it to organize pencils, pens, markers and other teacher's stuff to put at your desk as an organizational item. It also looks cute. I love it because it helps me to be organize and to keep my desk neat. It is memorable because she is not with us any more and that's a way that I remember her everyday.

Submited by

Barbara Gaskins

Durning the tax season there is a tax company( Liberty Tax) in my community that promotes it business in the most strangest and i think very unique and definitly memorable way by using some of their workers as lady liberty. they dress up and stand on the coner in front of the building, now most of the people i have seen doing this the person just stands there parading the sign up and down the sidewalk but the absolute funniest thing i have ever wittnessed from these characters is that they do these cute little dances that seem to entertain the community and have made for some very interesting conversation in these there parts.

Submited by

Danielle Safonte

The most enjoyable promotional item I have ever received was a business handout/postcard that was not only recycleable, but plantable. Every postacard could be planted and contained different types of wildflower seeds.

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